I recommend to my readers (particularly those who are of a mind with me regarding the thoughts in my post on wonder in encountering the Bible) the purchase and attentive reading of Sebastian Brock’s The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (revised edition, Cistercian Publications, 1992). In it, Professor Brock introduces the reader to (as the title says) the spiritual world vision of Ephrem the Syrian, providing numerous translated excerpts from Ephrem’s hymns as illustration. The result is either a new or a better appreciation of brilliance of Ephrem the Syrian as thinker, theologian, and author. What is so fascinating about this little book is that it reads as though Brock and Ephrem wrote it together, the text flows so well. An example regarding three forms of theology follows:
Theology, like any other intellectual pursuit, can take on three different forms, depending on the attitude of mind present in the person setting out on the path of enquiry.
(The first form:)
[T]he mind may seek to dominate and subjugate the object of its enquiry. Such an attitude has characterized much scientific and other enquiry from the time of Francis Bacon onwards.
(The second form:)
[T]he mind sets out to study the object of its enquiry in as dispassionate and “scientific” a way as possible.
Turn me back to Your teaching:
I wanted to stand back,
but I saw that I became the poorer.
For the soul does not get any benefit
except through converse with You.
(Hymns on Faith 32:1)
(The third form:)
The third approach, which is Ephrem’s, is that of engagement, an engagement above all of love and wonder. Whereas the second approach involves only a one-way movement, from the mind to the object of enquiry, this third approach is a two-way affair, involving a continual interaction. Only by means of such an interaction of love can human knowledge of divine truth grow. Ephrem continues in the same hymn:
Whenever I have meditated upon You
I have acquired a veritable treasure from You;
Whatever aspect of You I have contemplated,
a stream has flowed from You.
There is no way in which I can contain it:Your fountain, Lord, is hidden
from the person who does not thirst for You;
Your treasury seems empty
to the person who rejects You.
Love is the treasurer
of Your heavenly treasure trove.
(Hymns of Faith 32:2-3) (Brock, 43-44)
It’s fascinating to realize here that, while the subject here is theology, the issue Ephrem describes is that of epistemology and engagement. Ephrem describes an overarching appreciation (expressed later in the above-quoted hymn as love and wonder) for not only the author of the work he is studying—whether it be Scriptures, the world, or the various aspects of salvific theology proper—but also for the work itself. It is love of the subject matter which opens up understanding of it to Ephrem, which leads to greater love for the subject itself, and for its author. Who cannot recognize themselves in that?
As an example, let’s consider the relationship of an expert scholar and a reader. The reader has always learned from the works of this scholar, so the reader has come to appreciate not only the work, but also the person of the scholar. The reader comes to spend more time with the works of the scholar than works of other scholars, and the reader is repaid for these efforts. The reader’s engagement leads to a richer learning experience. Other readers who, for whatever reason, don’t engage with the scholar’s work end up the poorer. Or, as Ephrem says above:
Your fountain, Lord, is hidden
from the person who does not thirst for You;
Your treasury seems empty
to the person who rejects You.
Love is the treasurer
of Your heavenly treasure trove.
Well. In any case, this is a thought-provoking and fascinating book. Highly recommended!
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